Kalamazoo officials tight-lipped after Department of Public Safety acting chief James Mallery withdraws from consideration for permanent position

Kalamazoo officials tight-lipped after Department of Public Safety acting chief James Mallery withdraws from consideration for permanent position

by
Kathy Jessup and Rex Hall Jr. | Kalamazoo Gazette

Friday April 25, 2008, 9:40 AM

By Kathy Jessup
and Rex Hall Jr.
Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO -- City officials remained tight-lipped this morning why Kalamazoo's acting Public Safety chief withdrew from contention for the permanent job.

Mark Bugnaski / Kalamazoo Gazette James Mallery has served as acting chief of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety since November 2007.

Jim Mallery declined to comment this morning regarding his decision this week to pull his name from consideration for the chief's job.

City Manager Kenneth Collard on Thursday confirmed Mallery's decision, but would not elaborate.

"I'll be glad to comment when my research on this matter has been done," Collard said. "It would be premature to have an emotional reaction."

Collard said Mallery submitted a letter this week to his office announcing he was withdrawing from the search process. City Hall and Mallery have declined to make the letter public.

The Kalamazoo Gazette has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain a copy of the letter.

Mallery, 40, who joined the department in 1991, had already received the endorsement of the influential Northside Ministerial Alliance, a group of prominent Kalamazoo religious leaders, predominantly representing the city's minority community.

"It strikes me as unfortunate because I think it reduces the pool and here you have someone who has become a known quantity and clearly had statements of support from the community," City Commissioner Sean McCann said. "He's impressed a lot of people in the short period of time he's been acting on the job, but ultimately this process falls to the manager's prerogative. I would have liked to have seen Jim as a finalist."

Mallery, previously captain of Public Safety's Criminal Investigations Division, was named interim chief in November, after the resignation of former Chief Dan Weston.

Mallery was next in line for the interim appointment after Deputy Chief Mike McCaw sought a voluntary transfer back to a union-protected lieutenant's job and former Maj. Kenneth Colby, head of the department's Professional Standards office, abruptly resigned in August.

Collard said he plans to name five to seven finalists for the chief's job within the next two weeks. He said he has selected a panel that is expected to conduct a first round of interviews before the finalists later make public presentations. Collard has said he hopes to name a new chief by late May.
• Read a Q&A with Mallery after he was appointed acting chief.